Milicic double ensures Socceroos confine donations to money

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Australia put a difficult week behind them to celebrate the good
cause of a charity match with a 3-0 win over Indonesia at Subiaco
Oval in Perth last night.

Difficult as it might have been for the underperforming
Socceroos and their under-fire coach, Frank Farina, it was even
more difficult for Indonesia, who had woken to the news of an
earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and could be excused for not
having their minds on an international that doubled as a
fund-raiser for the victims of last year's tsunami. A crowd of
13,719 raised a respectable sum, and the Australian players swelled
the coffers by donating a total of $50,000 in match fees.

In the end it was an encouraging workout for the Socceroos, and
especially for a host of fringe players who were given the chance
to impress. Most grabbed their chance, particularly Jon McKain,
Mile Sterjovski and Ante Milicic, who scored one and eventually was
credited with another. Television replays had suggested it was
Indonesia defender Hamka Hamzah who got the last touch to a
downward header from substitute Tony Popovic, but Milicic was later
deemed the scorer.

Milicic was replaced by close friend David Zdrilic with 14
minutes remaining, and the Sydney FC striker rounded out a
morale-boosting night for Australia with a tidy goal in the 85th
minute after a burst down the left from Ahmad Elrich.

Having endured a sluggish start, the Socceroos had begun to
exert their authority towards the latter stages of the first half,
before settling for a single-goal lead at the break.

It was a trademark poacher's finish from Milicic that opened the
scoring in the 25th minute, a delightful looping header to convert
a perfect cross from Stan Lazaridis that left goalkeeper Hendro
Kartiko tangled up in his own net. Australia had started off in
less than impressive fashion, and might have been behind inside the
first two minutes after McKain gifted possession in a dangerous
area, Ljubo Milicevic kept striker Ilham Kesuma onside, and it
needed a smart save from Zeljko Kalac close to his body to deny the
Indonesians a shock early goal.

It was a rare error from man-of-the-match McKain, whose comfort
in the holding midfield role gave the Socceroos the shape they had
been lacking against Iraq in last weekend's 2-1 victory in Sydney.
McKain's tactical awareness contributed heavily to the Socceroos
keeping a much-needed clean sheet.

Slowly, but surely, Australia recovered from their early scare
to take the upper hand.

The impressive Sterjovski produced a shot on the turn that
Kartiko had to palm away; Milicevic stormed forward to strike a
shot into the side-netting; Milicic blazed over the bar after good
lead-up work from Tony Vidmar; then the veteran defender fashioned
another opening with a clever through ball that Sterjovski brought
down with his chest before producing a rasping volley that was
competently pushed away by the overworked Kartiko.

It wasn't clinical, but it was confident. Milicevic almost
turned the ball into his own net and had to be rescued by Kalac,
but otherwise the Socceroos were rarely tested by the Indonesians
where it mattered.

The loss of the lively Kesuma after just 13 minutes - the
striker clashed heads with Milicevic and left the pitch with a
nasty cut - didn't help matters, but to their credit the
Indonesians never stopped competing.

Perhaps mindful of the sensitivities of the European clubs,
Farina had opted to rest most of his first-choice players, with
striker John Aloisi (knee), and midfielder Marco Bresciano
(hamstring) reduced to non-playing roles on the bench.

Farina made eight changes to the team that had started against
Iraq, with the midfield trio of McKain, Jason Culina and Luke
Wilkshire boasting just seven caps between them. As expected,
strapping defender Milicevic was handed his debut and, as part of a
new honours system implemented by the administration, was given a
cap to commemorate the occasion at a team dinner the night before
the match.

The Socceroos went into the match protecting an impressive
record against the Indonesians, their only defeat in 12 previous
encounters coming in 1981 when Australia had already been
eliminated from the World Cup qualifiers and then-coach Les
Scheinflug took an under-20 side to Jakarta and lost 1-0.